The invention broadly relates to a rolling bearing assembly for mounting a shaft or similar member, comprising a housing encircling the shaft with at least one rolling bearing installed therein between two securing rings, consisting of an outer and an inner race and at least one row of rolling elements therebetween. The housing has annular chambers on either side of said bearing closed off on their outer edges by annular sealing means attached to the housing and in contact with the bearing shaft. At least one opening is provided in one of the annular chambers extending through the wall of the housing, and in communication on the outside with a feeding device for introducing a lubricant into the housing.
In such a rolling bearing assembly, when the shaft mounted therein rotates, a lubricant in the form of a grease is continuously fed into the housing, for example by means of a device as disclosed in European Pat. No. 30,911, so that the annular chambers and the spaces inside the bearing are filled with the lubricant.
It has been found that such a bearing assembly will run hot in the course of time, as a result of an excess of lubricant inside the bearing. Then the shaft must be stopped and the housing disassembled so that the grease in the annular chambers may be removed, after which the housing must be reassembled, all of which are time-consuming operations during which the equipment to which the shaft pertains cannot operate.